Nancy Richards-Akers’ husband then blew his brains out in front of Washington’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

An acclaimed romance novelist was killed in front of her two young children by her estranged ex-Marine husband – who then blew his brains out in front of Washington’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial, police said yesterday.

Nancy Richards-Akers was shot twice in the back of the head as she sat in her Jeep in her quiet upper-crust neighborhood, The Washington Post reported.

Officials did not say what triggered the bloody end to the failed marriage.

The couple had recently separated. She moved out of the family house – across the street from the German Embassy – to a nearby apartment so she could be close enough to split parenting duties for their two elementary-school children, The Washington Post said.

Neighbors reported hearing gunshots around 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

Jeremy Akers, 58, left the two children at the house and fled after the shooting, police told the paper.

Officials did not say why they believe the children witnessed the shooting.

Almost two hours later, park officers saw a man sitting 50 feet from the wall etched with the names of those killed in Vietnam.

When he noticed the officers approaching, the man put a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger.

Akers’ vehicle was found nearby. Police are waiting for a family member to officially identify the dead man as Akers.

Nancy Richards-Akers, 46, wrote 16 romance novels, many set in Irish history.

Her books included “Devil’s Wager” and “Miss Wickham’s Betrothal.”

Her 1997 “Wild Irish Skies” was named one of the 10 best romance novels of that year by The Washington Post.

“All my fiction is inspired by real life,” she once said. “[I] will never cease to marvel at the wonder of working at home to spin romantic tales of faraway places, forgotten times, heroic men, and courageous, self-aware heroines.”

A neighbor told the paper that the family is “absolutely shredded.”

The Akers children are in fourth and fifth grade at Our Lady of Victory Elementary School, said principal Susan Milloy.

“We are shocked and saddened,” said Milloy. “Right now, our focus is helping the children through this and keeping them in our prayers.”

A neighbor said Jeremy Akers seemed perfectly pleasant when the two passed each other just minutes before the shooting.

But the neighbor said Akers could also be confrontational about his conservative political opinions.

“He was very vocal about it,” said the neighbor.

“He liked to have intense conversations with people. He was the kind of guy who got in your personal space and you had to step back.”